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Monday, August 23, 2010

“We must learn from this, so that it never happens again.” Isn’t that what everyone says after a tragedy? Of course, certain advancements in safety do come about after key learnings from many accidents. Recalls aside, that’s how the auto and airline industry got safer. But not everyone seems to learn. This is Mike Williams, one of the survivors of the BP Deepwater Horizon rig explosion. He was on 60 Minutes this week recounting his story of what happened. It confirms a lot of what I heard within days of the explosion, and some things I suspected in the following weeks. Focus on animals covered in oil, lost tourist dollars and rage tees all you want, but until you solve the root problem that these things KEEP coming back to, accidents aren’t a question of if, but when: rushed schedules and deadlines combined with lapses in safety procedures.